Reflections: A Book

It's time for a little nonsense.

Roald Dahl – the author who entertained children (and adults) with classics like Matilda, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and James and the Giant Peach – would have been 100 years old on Tuesday. And while Dahl died in 1990, his legacy lives on in his books and the many film and television and theater adaptations of them (hey, there was just a movie version of The BFG this summer).

In honor of Roald Dahl Day, we rounded up the 10 best quotes from his stories to make you smile and feel inspired. There are lots more where these came from if you get a chance to crack one of his books.

1. "A little nonsense now and then, is relished by the wisest men."

– Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator

2. "Never do anything by halves if you want to get away with it. Be outrageous. Go the whole hog. Make sure everything you do is so completely crazy it's unbelievable...”

– Matilda

3. "Well, maybe it started that way. As a dream, but doesn’t everything. Those buildings. These lights. This whole city. Somebody had to dream about it first. And maybe that is what I did. I dreamed about coming here, but then I did it."

– James and the Giant Peach

4. "'The matter with human beans,' the BFG went on, 'is that they is absolutely refusing to believe in anything unless they is actually seeing it right in front of their own schnozzles.'"

– The BFG

5. "So please, oh please, we beg, we pray, Go throw your TV set away, And in its place you can install, A lovely bookshelf on the wall…"

– Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

6. "It's impossible to make your eyes twinkle if you aren't feeling twinkly yourself."

– Danny, the Champion of the World

7. "I understand what you're saying, and your comments are valuable, but I'm gonna ignore your advice."

– Fantastic Mr. Fox

8. "And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it."

– The Minpins

9. "So Matilda’s strong young mind continued to grow, nurtured by the voices of all those authors who had sent their books out into the world like ships on the sea. These books gave Matilda a hopeful and comforting message: You are not alone."

– Matilda

10. "It doesn’t matter who you are or what you look like, so long as somebody loves you."

– The Witches